Mobster Gets 71 Months In Racket Case

A Stamford man associated with New York's Gambino crime was sentenced to 71 months in prison Wednesday for extortion and other crimes associated with his operation of a string of gambling businesses in southwestern Connecticut.

Federal prosecutors said Dean DePreta, 45, was the leader of about 20 men charged a year ago with running illegal card games and sports betting offices from New Haven to Stamford. In some cases, the illegal gambling network enabled gamblers to place bets over the Internet with a company based in Costa Rica.

Authorities running wire taps recorded DePreta numerous times discussing the gambling operation, including his collection of "street taxes" by extorting or " shaking down" independent bookmakers who were not paying criminal organizations for protection.

After one extortion demand by DePreta, federal prosecutors said the victim was "so visibly agitated from this meeting that he nearly walked into oncoming traffic."

DePreta and others were recorded gossiping about mob politics and declaring their appreciation for what they described as the values embodied by the mafia.

DePreta asserted that he believed in "the whole thing," and that he was "looking out for the principles of the Family," in one recorded conversation.

During the investigation, federal prosecutors said FBI agents became aware of a violent struggle between the Gambino organization and the rival Genovese crime family over competing card games each operated in Hamden. The mobs profited from the games by "chopping" a piece from each pot.

Concerned that the Gambino game was cutting into their profits, three Genovese mobsters attacked the building at 2965 State St. in Hamden where the Gambinos ran poker games that sometimes lasted until 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights.

The Genovese mobsters pitched rocks at the building and barked insults into the intercom system when they failed to breach the security door. Inside, the mostly middle-aged business men playing cards became alarmed, mistaking the sound or rocks hitting walls for gun fire, according to information presented in court.

"The dealer had to yell at the guy to tell him to put his (expletive) phone away and don't call the cops, you know?," one of the Gambino mobsters said in a recorded conversation.

The recorded conversations also showed that DePreta and his associates where "whacking up" their gambling revenues, dividing about half among themselves and sending the remainder to mob high-ups in New York.

DePreta previously pleaded guilty to – and was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Vanessa Bryant – on one count of racketeering conspiracy. The charge accuses DePreta of extortion and operating illegal gambling businesses. DePreta also was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and to forfeit $300,000.

DePreta served a 39 month prison sentence after a 2002 conviction on similar charges.